Q. You said this was a maintenance week for you swing-wise. Where do you feel like you're at right now after two rounds?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I felt like today was another sort of scrappy one. I made what I feel are some uncharacteristic mistakes compared to how I've played the majority of the year.
So just got to try to iron that out over the next couple of days, try to shoot a couple of scores without as many bogeys on the card. If I can do that and just tidy it up a little bit, I feel like I'll be in a good spot heading into next week.
Q. You seem to be in a pretty good spot, period, in relation to the leaderboard.
RORY McILROY: Yeah.
Q. Is that indicative of kind of how good you're going right now? If you look since September, you've had great results across the board.
RORY McILROY: No, it has. It's been a very consistent period for sure. Yeah, even when I feel like I haven't played my best, I find a way. I think that's when I talk about being a more complete golfer, if one part of my game isn't on, then I can maybe lean into another part to try to -- like so today holing quite a few putts and making my score that way rather than hitting the ball unbelievably well.
I think that's been a big key to this consistent run is not having to rely too much on any one aspect of the game.
Q. On Wednesday you said you planned to hit driver pretty much everywhere, but when the conditions are like this, do you get a better sense of how a golden age course like this is supposed to play when the ball doesn't go as far?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, absolutely. It's a little more strategic. Even today, heavier air, rain, a bit of wind. I draw back on a few holes and then I hit driver on a couple.
It is -- I mean, I think there's a lot of debate about it, but if the golf ball just went a little shorter, this course would be awesome. Not that it isn't awesome anyway, but right now for the distances we hit it, it's probably 500 or 600 yards too short.
Yeah, it would be amazing to be able to play courses like this the way the architect wanted you to play them. So, yeah, like it does, it gives you a better appreciation when you play them in these conditions for sure.
Q. You've been back on TOUR now for a couple of weeks since winning at Augusta. What's been the most surprising thing about being a Masters champ?
RORY McILROY: I was just saying this, I think the fact that everyone forgot I won THE PLAYERS. THE PLAYERS is a pretty big deal.
(Laughter.)
Look, obviously that's at the forefront of everyone's mind because of what it meant and how I did it and all that stuff, but I think for me it's -- you know, like I -- it's great that I was able to do it but -- not that I'm leaving it in the rearview mirror, but I've got a lot of golf still left to play this year. I want to really try to focus on that.
Q. Since September, in September, you seemed to step further back from the LIV debate, discussion. It seemed that's when it started to click. You went second, second, then you won THE PLAYERS, which I think is probably the toughest tournament to win, and the Masters. Do you think there's a correlation there? Is your mind clearer?
RORY McILROY: I think so. Certainly not involved too much in the politics of everything, and even just not being involved with even the -- you know, being on the board of this TOUR and just talking about changes to the TOUR Championship and all that, like I have no idea what's going on. I think at this point, I don't care.
I want to play golf, and the reason I got into this game was to shoot scores and try to play the best golf possible and not really be concerned about how the TOUR is run or the business of the TOUR.
It was good to do it. It was a great experience. But I'm happy with where I'm at right now.
Q. You're a Masters champ. It must be harder said than done to put it behind you when people are out there yelling for you?
RORY McILROY: Absolutely. We all have our own challenges, and if my challenge is to try to focus on the present and not think about a dream come true a few weeks ago, then that's a pretty good challenge to have.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports